Snowy Silver Linings

"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."

Isaiah 1:18 (ESV)

Snow seems to be one of those things that you either love it or hate it. I know it can be a nuisance. Not everyone loves having to shovel it, it isn't safe to drive in it, and many times plans must be changed or canceled all together. Sure snow is not convenient most of the time, but I must admit that I love it! I was recently asked to find the silver lining for a snow storm just as spring is about to approach, so I am going to try to present 10 reasons to argue my case.

1.  Biblical reminder
• Above I quoted a Bible verse from Isaiah. Whenever it snows, I find myself thinking of the sacrifice Christ made for us my shedding His blood on the cross for my sins. My heart full of sin has been covered in white because He paid the price. It is a beautiful reminder.
• About a year ago we were hit with a snow storm and the light for our flag pole was covered with snow, but the light shined through. It reminded me that the light we find in God's love can never be hidden.
  
2. Family Bonding Time
• Growing up I have fond memories of snow days. I especially liked the snows that were so big my dad could stay home. We would work together shoveling, go sledding, make hot chocolate, eat grilled cheese and soup for lunch, watch movies together. It was an unexpected day to enjoy precious time with my families. To this day I enjoy it. A few years ago my youngest brother and I faced the elements and built a snowman together. Fun times!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
3.  Friendship and Good Times
• Not everyone can be with their family on a snow day. Maybe you don't live with your family, or perhaps you have a job which requires you to brave the elements. I still believe snow can be fun. Maybe you can go sledding with your neighbors, or build a pillow fort with your roommate, maybe your business slows downs and allows you to enjoy time with your co-workers. I loved playing with my neighborhood friends when I was younger, and I always enjoyed snow days at college with my friends and roommates there.
  
  
  
  
4. The joy of childhood
• As a teacher I get to experience the joy that is found in children when it snows. They light up when they talk about it. They love to sled, build snowmen, have a snowball fight and so much more. I love watching them experience it, and I know I loved experiencing it as a child.
  
5. Changing of the Seasons


• I love living along the northeastern coast. Experiencing the changing of the season thrills me. I get to see the leaves change colors in the fall, see the flowers grow in the spring, experience the adventures to be had in the summer heat, and my year would not be complete without snow fall in the winter.
  
  
  
6. Snow helps the environment
• Snow does help moisturize the earth's surface. Farmers can appreciate this as it will help their crop grow. My mom's theory is it helps kill germs. I can't tell you for sure if this is true, but it does keep children home from school for a day or two which may help stop the spreading of germs for a little while anyway.
  
7. Slow Down
• Life is busy. Sometimes I think snow is God's way of telling us to slow down. I know not everyone can take a snow day, but many of us do. We may not like it all the time, and sometimes I must admit we have too many snow days. However, I think every now and again, we need some time to stay home and spend time with our families. No running here and there, but just staying in and enjoying what we already have.
  
8. God's power displayed
• Psalm 19:1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork." Whether it be a thunder storm or a snow storm or anything in between, we can know we serve an all powerful God. To think, with all this power, He loves us all and sent His Son to die for us, so we can live with Him forever if we believe. What a humbling thought!
  
9. Winter Sports
• Just remember, if there was no snow, there would be no sledding, ice skating, skiing, snowboarding, etc, etc. I love the Olympics and how sad would it be if there was no winter Olympics.
  
10. God knows what we need
• Last year I had a really bad cold, but I was going to push through my second job. I wasn't sure how, but I thought I needed too. Right as I was getting ready, I get a call that don't need me because business was slow due to work. It was a God given miracle. Last month I had a horrible stomach bug. I never had to make up plans for the substitute because we had a snow day. Also I'm pretty sure that most teachers can attest to the fact that every once and while, the kids and the teachers need a break from the long winter. Snow can be a blessing in disguise if you are looking.
  

There you have it. Ten reasons why I love the snow! I know it isn't for everyone, and I am so grateful to the first responders, medical personnel, utility workers, snow plowers and so many others who must face the elements to help others. I also know that too much of anything can be a bad thing. We do need to work, and we all have needs which need met through our employment. I am not saying I constantly wish for a week long blizzard. I just find joy in a good solid snow or two each winter. I see it as another part of God's Creation, and I believe there can be much to be learned and enjoyed from it.

"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

~ Psalm 51:7 (ESV)

The Heart of the Matter

          

 A couple years ago, I wrote a post about the bad guy. I used several fictional characters to illustrate my point. Summed up, I mentioned that there are villainous characters I feel for because of their stories. All of us go through struggles in life, and they can make or break us. Through God’s grace, we are saved and can do good for others, but not all take this chance. Villains show me my own fleshly vulnerability, and in turn reminds me to examine my life as a follower of Jesus Christ.

                I think it is time to revisit this issue, and share some new views I have on this matter. Perhaps I have been living under a rock my whole life or maybe I am correct in saying that there seems to be a trend of idolizing the bad guys. Many reasons exist for this – there may be more character development, the actor or actress may be more appealing in looks and nature than the rest of the cast or perhaps people just enjoy living life vicariously through the baddie’s side. I’m sure many more reasons exist for this, but I digress.

                                                                 

                I used to enjoy watching the show, Once Upon a Time. This season I decided to give it up. I can save some time and sum up my reasons as being I was too emotionally involved with a tv show. That’s all it is, and there are more important things I should spend my time doing. However, the issues at hand did get me thinking. A line I heard repeatedly through the show was, “Evil is not born; it is made.”

                                                                 

                I agree to the extent that our surroundings shape who we are. The Lord has blessed me with a godly Christian heritage, loving family, food and shelter, supportive friends, Christian education, freedoms and the list goes on and on. I have a lot to be grateful for, and I owe a lot of who I am to the Lord and His blessings as well as the people He has placed in my life. Not all are so blessed as I am. Desperation and deprivation can lead people down some dark paths, and I understand that. The thing is – it doesn't have to be that way. The opposite can be said of both scenarios. People who are blessed as I are still capable of making poor choices that lead to death and destruction, just as people from less fortunate scenarios are fully capable of rising to the challenge and making a difference for good in this world.

                                                                    

                Every human no matter who you are is born the same – a sinner. Romans 3:23 tells that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Jeremiah 17 tells us that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. It is the Lord who knows the heart and can heal it. So you see, we are all born evil. We are born selfish, wanting our way and doing what it takes to get it. This is where God’s grace comes in to play. He has made a way to save us from our sins. He gave us His Word to teach us how to be saved and how to live for Him.

                                                

                Now it takes work, and it also takes roots. This is why Jesus commands in Matthew 16 to go into the world and preach unto the nations. We are to share our knowledge of salvation with others, so they may believe in Christ and be saved. The Lord has also given instruction to parents, pastors and various church leaders to shepherd minds with the knowledge of Christ. So yes, many people turn down dark paths because they have not yet heard there was another way or they chose to neglect salvation.

                                                                     

                My point is this – evil is born, and then we have a choice. We can accept the gift of salvation or we can neglect it. We can choose God’s goodness and light or we can remain in the darkness. Ultimately it comes down to a matter of heart and not circumstance. It is the most important choice we can make. Seeing this issue taken so lightly in our culture and media is troublesome. So now, I must make a choice to deter from idolizing wickedness and look to encourage and reflect goodliness.  

                                                                        

Junior Year

So in honor of my junior year coming to a close, I thought I would recap on all of God's blessings through this year. Looking back, it is really amazing on how well this year really did turn out. Background - from second semester freshmen all the way through sophomore year, I had 3 close friends I spent time with. One of them was my roommate sophomore year. I learned throughout the course of the year that my roommate would not be returning to ABC, one friend was going to Israel and the other spent the past year in Israel. My third friend would be busy with her senior year, and due to some of my own misunderstandings, there was a regrettable rift between us.

Needless to say, I was not looking forward to returning to school this year. I didn't know who my roommate would be, what friends I would have, and there were many classes I was dreading. Several people wished me blessings and prayed I would have the best year ever, but I was not convinced that was even a possibility. This is of course, a sad testimony for a child of God, for with Him all things are possible. This has probably been my best year of college ever.

Now I do have one disclaimer, I did miss having my 3 friends here, and I have some wonderful memories with them that cannot be replaced, but in all other areas, junior year has been the bomb! It is so amazing to see God's hand in every single detail. It was truly a blessing to experience His awesome power these past 2 semesters.

First, the roommate situation had me terrified. I had no idea what to expect and I had many similar feelings I experienced coming to freshmen year. It turned out I knew my roommate ahead of time, well at least who she was. I still had some reservations as she seemed much more mature than myself. Well let me tell you what, do not judge a book by its cover. Bethanna has been such a blessing. She is also in elementary education, and she had the rare opportunity to stay in the dorm during student teaching. I learned so much from her this year, and I feel like I have gained a friend. God worked it out so nicely, and we have told each other so many times. I am so thankful for my wonderful roomie and I shall miss her next year.

That brings me to the issue of next year's roommate, Melanie. She is my friend who spent the year in Israel. Yes, an ocean and time zone separated us, but in God's sovereignty, it brought us closer together. Even though Melanie was not physically present during the hard times, I would send her e-mails about my day and it made me feel better, She always knew what to say, and it was amazing to hear about her own experiences in Israel. We are both excited about rooming together next year, and learning more about our God. He used this to teach both of us so much. I was also able to mend a broken friendship. Well I didn't do the mending, God did. My roomie from last year has also been a blessing. Through phone calls and getting together over breaks, the Lord has blessed me through another friendship.

Classes this year have been amazing. I have really enjoyed my teaching method classes. The observations, lesson plans and projects are sometimes overwhelming, but I have learned so much through them. I am starting to experience a little anxiety about next year's student teaching, but I really do love it. The Lord has also given me a peace this year that kept me from getting to stressed out. I also have developed many new friendships this year that have proved a blessing.

I have also learned many life lessons about forgiveness, letting go of the past and giving God control. There are so many more things I could share about this wonderful school year, but I pray this is testimony enough. God is so great and without Him, I am nothing. I do not need things to go my way because His ways are better than mine. What an awesome God we serve!

Problem Solving

For quite sometime now, I have been trying to live a stress free life. Obviously stressful things occur quite frequently, but my goal is to not let it get to me. I got to the point where I was tired of anxiety and stress. It typically was silly, because once I accomplished my mission, I realized it was not so bad to begin with. Now with prayer, strength from the Lord, and remembering past lessons, I do a fairly decent job of remaining calm. I still have my moments, but God has really helped me in these efforts.

Well today a problem came up. It was the kind of problem where I was between a rock and a hard place. Every solution I was coming up with seemed to have another problem attached to it. I must admit instead of asking for God's help, I teared up. I will finish my tale, but to help me along, I found some quotes.

Mary Kay Ash said, "For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour."

I could not agree more. I am a firm believer in where there is a will there is a way. My mind started sifting through compromises I could make to satisfy all sides in my situation.

Theodore Roosevelt said, "Got a problem? Do what you can where you are but with what you got."

Of course one BIG thing I have is God on my side, but as my mind worked on the problem, I began to think that there was something I could do, without setting myself up or the other party for further stress and worry. Then BAM it came to me. A simple solution, where everyone wins including some who were not involved to begin with. Now this solution will require a little extra time and energy on my part, but God has me here in this place. Solutions to our problems may bring up some inconvenience, but if we force fight for our way, others will be inconvenienced. The other party came and spoke to me in love and has always been a big help to me. That person has troubles of their own, so the least I could to was find a way to solve their immediate problem, before thinking of myself.

I don't say all this to brag on myself. I shed some tears of this and thought selfishly at first. Then I remembered how annoyed I get when others force their problems on others selfishly. I see it a lot. My fear was that if I did not seek for a compromise or something of that sort, I would become hypocritical.

Henry Ford sums it up quite well, "Most people spend more time and energy making problems than trying to solve them."

In order to solve your problems, you may have to give up of yourself. In the end it will be well worth it. God can use it to stretch you, and you will save yourself a lot of heartache. Of course not every solution will be easy to come by every time. So in these cases remember....

Psalm 121:2, "My hope cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth."

As a fairly new lover of math, yay for problem solving!

Rain is a Good Thing!

Many people get depressed by rainy days, but in them I find pleasure. To me it is God's way of providing rest. You have to slow down, take it easy, but not stop carrying out His purposes all together.

Today I took in the cool rainy air through my window, I listened to soothing music, I drank tea. For lunch I had comfort food - tomato soup and grilled cheese. Today has been wonderful.

Maybe getting soaked walking to classes is a little less enjoyable, but I cannot help but love it overall. There is nothing like a good walk in the rain.

Rain is a good thing (and not for all the reasons that Luke Bryant sang about ;-).)

Revelation 21:5 says, "And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." God does make all things new. As the spring rain comes, the ugly brown and signs of death disappear from winter's harsh elements and spring brings new life. How much brighter does the sun shine after it comes out of hiding. Rain is indeed a good thing.

Even the rain storms of life can beautiful. Just as you enjoy the sun after rainy days, you can enjoy life's blessings more when you appreciate where you came from. Rain is a great thing!

Today it is raining and my heart is thankful.

Murmurings and Disputings

Philippians 2:14 - "Do all things without murmurings and disputings."

The more I ponder the different issues I see in life, the more I realize how selfish I as a human being can be. This past school year I have really tried to practice self-control and stop complaining. This is not something that comes easy to be as I am a selfish human being who wants things my way and life to be easy. Of course, it does not work that way.

I really hate to other people complain about certain things. Sadly, the things I hate to hear complaints about tend to be the things that I myself complain about. Did I mention how much I cannot stand hypocrisy. This always makes me think of what Jesus said in Matthew 7:5, "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote of thy brother's eye."

You see, I can get all fired up about others who complain, but what about myself? Until I can control my own thoughts and tongue, I cannot talk about anyone else. I realized that even when I do vocalize my complaints, the thoughts running through my head are just as bad. When you consider I am a poor college student, I really am not bad off. I have been given so much, yet it never seems to be enough. I need to stop complaining and be grateful for what I have. Everything could always be so much worse.

I was inspired to write this post after seeing an event some friends were having at their college. They are having a no food complaints day at school. I know here at my college that a lot of us complain about our food choices. I always hate when people do this in front of the cooks, but the other college made a good point - we could really be fed poison and rotting vegetables, but we are not. So even if I do not vocalize my complaints in front of the cooks, my heart attitude is not right. I may be paying a lot of money for it, but if I was being fed top class gourmet food, it would be a lot more money. Anyway, this is just one example of my complaining issues yet to be conquered. It will be a constant battle, but I hope to be more grateful as well as work on my own attitude rather than complaining about others. What a vicious circle! God is always good through it all, and my heart is happy.

The Lord God made them all

So if you know me, it is no big secret that I am not a science lover. From the time I was in elementary class, I have never done well, and so I simply do not like the subject. I have always been satisfied with if it works, it works. I do not need to know the big terms behind it. I realize this seems like a care less attitude, and sometimes it is. However, there are times when I love it, simply to see the wonder of God's Creation.This past week in my biology course, my teacher was gone for the week. Instead having a week off, we were instructed to watch videos that prove evolution to be false. It was amazing to see how God has created each creature to declare His handiworks. For example, did you know about the Australian Incubator Bird? It is amazing how they can test the exact temperature of their nest and keep it to exact warmth their babies need to survive. That is only scratching the surface of these unique animals. I could go on forever about all the animals and even proteins I learned about, but that would take a while.

Anyway, I have been reading a devotional called Horse Tales from Heaven by Rebecca E. Ondov. In it, she tells a story about an adventure with a horse from her experiences and relates them to spiritual truth. Thinking back, I thought of a horse tale from my own life that expresses God's design. Not only has God shaped each animal to fit their environment and way of life, I have also seen how God has formed each personality for survival. The first foal ever born at the stable I used to help out at was named Spring. Not too many months after Spring's birth, her mother Cruz died of Potomac fever. Spring still needed nourishment, and if you know anything about animals, bottle feeding is not always the easiest solution. Well Miss Spring "just happened" to be one of the most independent foals you would ever meet. A bottle was never needed, she just licked the formula right from the bucket. Even better, her fraternal grandmother became like a surrogate mother out in the pasture, and the two became close. How could Spring's personality just have evolved into what she needed? It couldn't. God knew what would happen in her young life, and He created her to withstand it.

Now if God cares that much about a little filly, how much more does He care about me? What an amazing Creator I serve!

An Invitation to Grow

This is my second attempt at blogging. I find that writing out my thoughts enables to me to see how God is working in my life. This week I have been sent to notes of encouragement. One said "Keep going, Meg, because you are growing beautifully." I am not sure if this is true, but the same card says that God sends us trials to invite us to grow. I have seen this time and time again in my life.
Lately, I have learned how important it is to let go of the past. There is no future in the past. It's gone. It has been freeing to come to this realization. Now I need to find contentment in the here and now.I do not know what lies ahead, but God has been so good to me. I can't wait to see what He has in store.

Lamentations 3:25 - "The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him."